I knew from the beginning that Alice was going to die around this time in the story, but it still kind of broke my heart to write these two chapters :( I will never be good at killing of my characters xD

Chapter 39 - Remember

The morgue was ice cold; Brutus could see doctor Briscoe's breath transform into little white clouds, as he spoke.

"Her heart just stopped," the doctor informed them softly, his voice echoing between the naked tile walls. "It happened in her sleep. She didn't suffer."

Ellie said nothing. She was looking at Alice on the gurney. If it wasn't because Brutus knew she was dead, he could have been fooled to believe that the old woman was taking a nap under the white sheet. Her face, though now waxy and bluish in death, seemed relaxed and peaceful. She looked younger and that dazzled him slightly. He had seen so many dead faces, twisted in pain from the execution that he had forgotten how death could also look.

"Who found her?" he asked doctor Briscoe.

He had still been asleep when Paul had called him at home, revealing the gloomy news. Brutus had only had time to learn the main points, before driving off in a hurry to make sure he caught Ellie before she got on the bus.

"I think it was Mr. Terwilliger."

Ellie looked up at him. She wasn't crying anymore, but her eyes were blank and red-rimmed.

"When did she die?" she asked quietly.

"Between two and three a.m. I had a man at the front desk the entire night, but no one heard or saw anything. It all happened very peacefully."

Doctor Briscoe shifted from one foot to the other. Brutus had a feeling he took Alice's death to heart; he was a doctor and he was here to prevent these things from happening, but this time he had failed. He cleared his throat lightly.

"I'll let you have a moment with her," he said gently and walked out. When the door closed behind him, Brutus looked to Ellie, who hadn't seemed to notice that the doctor has left.

"Ellie, you want me to leave too?"

She shook her head and whispered barely audible: "No."

Brutus took of his uniform jacket and wrapped both the jacket and his arms around Ellie. She was shivering.

"I knew I should have been there," Ellie said hoarsely after a while, where none of them had spoken. "I had this bad feeling, when I left last night…"

"Sweetheart, this is not your fault," Brutus stopped her firmly. "You're a good nurse, but you don't have godly powers. It was her turn, you couldn't have done anything. Remember what Doc said: She didn't feel a thing. This happened at her term and I'm stone sure she's pleased with that wherever she is now."

Ellie dried her eyes with his handkerchief and sniffed.

"I just wish I could have been there to say good bye to her," she croaked.

"She knew that you cared about her, Ellie," Brutus said softly. "Right from the beginning. A missed goodbye won't change that. Tell her now."

Ellie looked down at Alice and Brutus could feel her tears fall on his arm. After a while she pulled away from his embrace, reached out and drew the sheet back over Alice's face. She inhaled deeply.

"I need some air," she said with a frail voice.

oOo

They walked out into the small yard where the medical personal used to spend their smoking breaks and sat down on a bench. The yard was empty at this hour. Ellie pulled Brutus' jacket tighter around her and squinted her eyes against the burning sunrise. The night shift had just ended; tired guards walked back to their cars and the day shifters greeted them cheerfully. Brutus raised his hand to Terry from laundry delivery and the young man waved back with a smile.

"You remember that day we bumped into each other in the laundry delivery?" Brutus said without thinking.

Ellie smiled faintly. "I was so mad at you. You behaved like a prick."

"I did," Brutus admitted shamefully. "And I behaved even worse towards poor Terry. I thought he had his eyes on you and I nearly ripped his head off."

Ellie suddenly looked worried. "You did? I hope you apologized."

"Seven times at least," Brutus said and she chuckled airily. He reached out and pulled her towards him, kissing the top of her head where her hair still felt cold after their time in the morgue.

"It feels like ages ago," Ellie said, with her head on his shoulder. "It's like I have been here a life time. All these things that had happened… I can hardly remember my life without the Green Mile. And you."

When Brutus didn't say anything, she looked at him.

"That's a good thing," she assured him and he smiled. Looking out through the fence, she went quiet again and he knew she was thinking about Alice.

"You know it's not our fault, right?" he said again.

Ellie hesitated slightly. "Yes." After a second of silence, she added thoughtfully. "You think she knew?"

"Hard to say," Brutus said. "But if she did, she wasn't afraid. You saw her face. It was just her time to move on…"

She pulled away from him with such a rapid movement that he thought he had said something wrong. She stared at him.

"Oh, God," she said, her voice flabbergasted and eyes wide from sudden understanding. "He knew!"

"Who?" Brutus asked, afraid to even move.

"Coffey."

"What?" Brutus said confused, but instead of answering, Ellie jumped up from the bench and hurried back to the door, his jacket flapping behind her. "Ellie?!"

oOo

Ellie was in such a hurry to get back that Brutus didn't manage to catch up with her, until she was blocked by the locked door at E-block.

"Ellie, what's going on?" he asked, when she turned around and told him to hurry up.

"I will tell you afterwards," she said with a voice that shook weirdly. "If I'm right. It's just… I just remembered… Brutus, please, open the door!"

He unlocked the door and she hurried past him, storming past the front desk too, where she overheard Paul's "'Morning."

Paul raised a brow at Brutus, who could just shrugged, yes, sorry, my girlfriend has gone momentarily insane, and follow Ellie down the corridor. She stopped outside Coffey's cell.

"John?" she called softly, but impatiently through the bars. "Are you awake? John?"

Coffey rolled on to his left side and looked at her. He seemed neither surprise nor reluctant to have been awaken in this early hour.

"Alice is dead," Ellie said in a surprisingly straight-forward tone.

Coffey's mild face didn't even flinch. "I know, ma'am."

"Do you…" Ellie paused and looked at him, almost pleadingly. "Do you remember what you said to her last night? About her leaving and not being afraid?"

Coffey sat up and nodded.

"Yes, ma'am," he said softly.

Ellie said nothing for a while. It looked like she was lost for word. Brutus shared a glare with Paul, who was still standing behind the desk, looking as confused as Brutus felt.

"John," Ellie said slowly. "Did you know that she was going to die?"

"Yes, ma'am," Coffey responded.

Ellie's chest heaved and Brutus thought she would break into tears, but instead she smiled, her eyes going blank.

"Thank you," she whispered through the steel bars. "For letting her leave in peace."